Broken Prodigy
by TeniPuri Chick
Summary: “Is tennis all I'm good for?” Ryoma asked, eyes emotionless and dead. No one moved, all they could do was look into his dead eyes, not being able to answer the question asked.


Category: regular

Anime/manga: Prince of tennis

Pairings: Ryoma/ ?

Summery: "Is tennis all I'm good for?" Ryoma asked, eyes emotionless and dead. No one moved, all they could do was look into his dead eyes, not being able to answer the question asked.

Chapter one:

No one ever took notice of him, at least not the real him. All they know is the mask he wares. But after awhile the mask cracks and cracks until it breaks, and shatters into a million pieces, never to be able to be pieced back together again. But every time it broke he somehow found the strength to find a way to put it together. No one seemed to want the real him....no one..

Was his true self that unwanted, that no one took notice of how much pain he was in....how everyday he put on his mask and no matter what he did, it seemed like this...play...a play that wouldn't end.

This is how Ryoma's life was....the life no one took notice of.....the life he wished he could get rid of.

His parents never took notice of this, they never saw his empty eyes. The eyes which if any normal person would see on a child his age would cry. He always put his fake smirk on and they bought it, his cocky attitude he portrayed, everyone thought it was him, but it wasn't. Not even close.

His father never questioned him, all he thought was he was a twelve year old kid obsessed with tennis. Nothing strange. Nanjirou thought he raised his son just fine, but he never really payed attention to Ryoma out anything tennis related. He never tried to get to know the kid who wanted a father to play with them, go hiking together, anything normal father's and son's did.

His mother thought he was just being a boy, and ignored it. Thinking if she butted in, it would do nothing, but have her little boy mad at her. She just liked to see him happy, but she didn't think anything was wrong. She ignored all the signs, if they had been seen he could be different then he was now.

None of his team noticed either...but they never really took the time to get to know the real him. Sure they talk at practice, or games...but that is about it. Ryoma never really had contact with them unless they were at practice, and he usually didn't talk during a ranking match, or the games during the tournament.

They never noticed how much he hated it all....all of what he is....he hated it.

Tennis.

_Tennis._

It was the only thing he could think about, yet everything he could care less about. He didn't even like the sport. So why did he continue playing? Why did he devote every _second _of his time to hit a ball back and forth, watching as it would fly past him, watching the man on the other side of the net smirk in pleasure? It made every single of his nerves grind, made his hands tighten with distaste, made him want to throw the racquet on the ground and storm off, and he wated to yell or sceam while going that too.

Every time he stepped near that stupid green court with white lines, he wanted to turn around and go back the other way. He felt so angry, so _used up_. It was all for _him_, his _father_, but he never acknowledged him, never praised him, never even had a proper conversation with him. He was too engrossed in those 'adult' magazines. He had wanted him to play tennis in the first place. So why did he feel so ripped off, so stepped on, yet never back down? Why did he feel so _empty_?

Ryoma looked up to the sky, the rain hitting his face, as he sat on the bench in the park. He didn't know what to do. No one was home, they were all gone, back in the states. They said he could stay here till the end of the year, and join them after. But to him it feels like he was abandoned. They left, and they didn't even tell him. The only thing that was left behind was a note, and the note was from his father so, Ryoma didn't even think a couple sentences justified.

'_why...did I do something wrong to make them leave_.' Ryoma thought, eyes void of emotions. The rain had all but socked him, but he didn't seem to notice, he was numb, and he finally broke.

"Echizen-Kun?" Ryoma looked up and his eyes met the one who called his name. His eyes widened in shock as the rain started to come down harder, and lightning flashed in the dark sky, his eyes never leaving the person in front of him.

He hurridly stood up, but ended up falling and being caught in the person's arms. Ryoma gave one last look at the group of people that now surrounded him, before all went black.

**Authors note: I never wrote a fanfic that wasn't really a crossover so...here this is. I hope you all like it...if you have any suggestions please tell me...oh and vote for pairings!**


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